This application claims the priority of German application 197 28 081.1-21, filed in Germany on Jul. 2, 1997, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a lowerable rear window that runs convexly or bent, for a folding roof of a motor vehicle that has lateral C-pillars.
A lowerable rear window for a motor vehicle is known from German Patent Document DE 34 44 593 A1, said window being stowable in a vertical stowed position inside the vehicle. The disadvantage of this arrangement is that this takes up a corresponding useful space inside the vehicle. It is also disadvantageous that this stowage method makes sense only for essentially flat panes.
German Patent Document DE 36 07 650 A1 teaches a device for pulling in the rear window of a motor vehicle and likewise stowing it essentially vertically inside the vehicle. The device therefore has the same disadvantages as the one described above.
A folding roof for a vehicle is known from European Patent Document EP 0 482 681 B1, said roof consisting of a forward roof part and a rear roof part with a rear window. Both parts are stowed ahead of the rear axle in the front area of the vehicle so that they require a corresponding amount of stowage space.
A goal of the present invention is to provide stowage capability for a convex or bent rear window in a folding roof, so that as little useful stowage space as possible is lost when the rear window is stowed.
According to the invention, this goal is achieved by providing a lowerable rear window that can be convex or bent, for a folding roof of a vehicle that has lateral C-pillars with the following features: wherein the rear window is designed as a separate part and is locked in a closed state to the folding roof; wherein the rear window has control levers on each side; and wherein the rear window is separated by a rotary movement of the control levers from the C-pillars and the folding roof and can be stowed above and behind a tank of the vehicle.
According to the invention, the rear window is designed as a separate part. In particular, it is no longer connected to the lateral C-pillars. Consequently, it can be stowed separately from the other parts. As a result, the C-pillars also can be accommodated very compactly in the trunk area of the vehicle, since a cross connection between the two C-pillars is no longer required or because they can be eliminated by the separate stowage of the rear window. The folding roof itself can likewise be stowed in a compact fashion in the trunk area.
The fact that the rear window is stowed above and below the tank, which accordingly can have its shape adapted to the shape of the rear window, the stowed rear window takes up almost no stowage space in the vehicle. The tank volume can remain essentially constant as a result.
Another advantage of the separation of the rear window from the folding roof according to the invention is the possibility of driving with the rear window lowered and with the folding roof otherwise closed. In this manner, a so-called landaulet position is achieved.
In a highly advantageous embodiment of the invention, two control levers can be provided on each side to form a parallelogram.
As a result of this design, with the control levers in a position in which they are tilted forward and upward, there is a short lifting movement of the rear window at the beginning of the turning and lowering motion. If the rear window is provided with a rain gutter that is located in a rain gutter of the C-pillars, the rain gutter of the rear window will be lifted out of the rain gutter of the C-pillars before the downward rotary movement takes place. In this manner, the separate process of stowing the rear window is not impeded by the rain gutters.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.